How powerful are those words! We landed in Kenya only a few short days ago. Praise God that we got here safely and are able to be here and bless people, yet I feel like we are the ones getting so blessed! Everyone here is so giving despite not having much of their own! It is so convicting to a lot of us and it is difficult to just sit back and not be able to give much back but our ministry! And how truly excited they are for our time here.
Yesterday was our first full day here and it was supposed to be our day of rest. The day consisted of a wonderful Kenyan Church service welcoming the mazungus (thats us white people + Anthony- who is considered white here! haha). We sang, danced and praised the Lord for the work he will do during the crusades here! This service was so long and so powerful and I believe a lot of us will be learning to whole heartedly do worship, despite how silly it may seem to us now! I'm so excited for God to be breaking down those barriors for us! Grace, the woman who the 5 girls are staying with, spoke so passionately about how God has NOT forgotten the people in these lands with so much power and I know I got so excited about the work they KNOW is going to happen. There are no doubts in any of our minds that something powerful is going to come out of this ministry here! Bwana asifiwe! Everyone says amen? :)
We Canadians are quickly getting used to a lot of rice, pit latrenes and sponge baths! It is all so wonderful, and the landscape? How can we not praise the Lord after seeing the beauty he has created!
We are being so blessed by all the children we encounter! They all love to shake our hands and say "how are you, how are you?" because that's all a lot of the public school kids know how to say. The private school kids do know quite a bit of english though, along with a lot of the adults, which makes it quite easy for us muzungus! But we are still practicing the lines that Kennedy taught us, way back during the planning for this trip in Caronport. The people all light up when they see us, they wave, they laugh and sometimes run after us. I'm always left wondering what they are saying to us in their language.
Jet lag? I think we have all defeated it and are just ready to start the crusades tomorrow. Please be praying for the Lord to change these peoples hearts, so that they can say "blessed be the name of the lord" despite anything they are going through. It is difficult to see the street kids and the poor kids and I just want to pick them up and take them home, instead I just pray that something will change in their hearts and the Lord will see them and fill their hearts! Please keep these hurting kids in your prayers!
It is almost time to me to return to Benyore, but I hope you will remember these prayer requests:
- safety against disease and infection
- effectiveness in ministry
- that the language barrior won't be a problem
- physical strength for the team as this will be a tiring time (long days, physically demanding, spiritually demanding)
- wisdom and clarity for the leaders of the crusades (July 29th-Aug 1st)
- team unity, we need to stay connected so there is no room for the devils attack in this area.
This is all that comes to mind, and I will be checking in as much as possible(every few days) to keep you all updated. I hope you realize I did just travel 10 minutes by motorbike to write this to you. It was sweeeeeet! So I will be coming back again to write more, especially for this experience.
God bless you all for your prayers, support and love.
Nakupenda from Africa,
On behalf of the Caronport to Kenya team, Deana Phillips!
Ps. Happy birthday Daddy :)
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Friday, July 23, 2010
Hello Everyone,
This is Anthony Henderson writing to you from a small internet cafe in Nairobi, Kenya. Dan Jensen and I are the 'Advance Team' getting some prep work done before the rest of the team will join us on monday morning.
We had safe travels, got to see Brussels, Belgium because our flight was cancelled and met some really cool people on the way. While in Bujumbura, Burundi a deathly sick man was carried on the plane for an emergency lift to Nairobi, that moment I realized, we were not in North America anymore.
We are doing some prep work before monday, seeing the city and of course seeing where the Lord might open a door for ministry. We feel safe, everyone does seem to be interested in us, but more than that both Dan and I are eager to see and meet the people.
Folks, God is good; there is tons of evidence for it and though we feel so unworthy or unqualified to be his workmanship...suck it up. He chose us and that is a glorfious thing.
Pray for us as we are here, pray for safety; but above that, pray that we would encounter God in a way that will blow our mind away. We want to grow a faith that can move mountains. We are excited to be here and we are anticipating our God to do great things.
Pray for the rest of the team as they are meeting in Toronto and travelling to Nairobi (via London).
Blessings on you all. We know Christ will be glorified through through this work!
Praise to His Name.
Anthony
This is Anthony Henderson writing to you from a small internet cafe in Nairobi, Kenya. Dan Jensen and I are the 'Advance Team' getting some prep work done before the rest of the team will join us on monday morning.
We had safe travels, got to see Brussels, Belgium because our flight was cancelled and met some really cool people on the way. While in Bujumbura, Burundi a deathly sick man was carried on the plane for an emergency lift to Nairobi, that moment I realized, we were not in North America anymore.
We are doing some prep work before monday, seeing the city and of course seeing where the Lord might open a door for ministry. We feel safe, everyone does seem to be interested in us, but more than that both Dan and I are eager to see and meet the people.
Folks, God is good; there is tons of evidence for it and though we feel so unworthy or unqualified to be his workmanship...suck it up. He chose us and that is a glorfious thing.
Pray for us as we are here, pray for safety; but above that, pray that we would encounter God in a way that will blow our mind away. We want to grow a faith that can move mountains. We are excited to be here and we are anticipating our God to do great things.
Pray for the rest of the team as they are meeting in Toronto and travelling to Nairobi (via London).
Blessings on you all. We know Christ will be glorified through through this work!
Praise to His Name.
Anthony
Saturday, July 10, 2010
Pre-Kenya Hello to All!
An excited 'hey' goes out to all who are reading this,
This is Deana posting from Echo Bay, ON. I'm going to share with you some pre-Kenya information, let you guys know what is going on right now, prayer requests and share some of my heart with you. The next time you will probably hear from me is in the beautiful land of hot(I'll soon find out how hot!) Kenya!
I am so excited to be able to share my time in Kenya with all of you - starting in only 2 short weeks! So much has been changing in these last crutial days and it's getting a lot of the team so excited but a little bit nervous at the same time! I don't think I'd be wrong in saying that we are being tested and taught to turn to Jesus for our strength! How exciting is that?
Like I said, a lot of changes have been made, but one that will effect us every day is we will no longer be staying in huts with the locals but rather staying in a hotel while we are there. This will help us better ensure the safety of our team members while we are on this adventure! It may sound like we are taking the easy road on this one, but I'm pretty sure that this will not be a five-star experience with satelite TV. I'll let you know if I'm wrong though!
I'm hoping that all of you who are reading this will join with us in prayer. We are all in need of it for different reasons but there is one universal problem: we miss calculated the costs by about $500...each. For the 15 people from Caronport, SK that adds up to a lot of money. We only have two short weeks to gather this money, but it gives us an opportunity to show how faithful God is!
To my team members reading this: we need to not be discouraged by this, but pray hard and keep preparing ourselves spiritually, emotionaly, and physically.
Some more prayer requests I hope you will keep in mind: for Anthony's visa to return in time (as an American he would need his before hand), no problems for the rest of the team (minus a few who purchased them before) who chose to purchise their visa at the airport, for us to learn as much Swahili to help communication with the locals, no stress only soaking in the Lord to prepare ourselves, that the hearts will be softened of the people we will come in contact with and for the money we need to come in! Let's rely on the Lord for answers to these important requests. I'm sure there are more that were not brought to my attention, God knows what they are so I pray he answers them too!
It's only 14 short days until we all join together in the Toronto airport! This is such a dream come true for me! Even through my fundraising, sharing with people and my preparing spiritually for this trip, it doesnt seem real! I am so excited to love on orphans, learn how to love more genuinely by being refined in this far away land, dig my heart out for the community (in well form of course!), and to see my favourite animal-a giraffe for the first time! Of course I'm excited for everything but these are a few that first come to mind! God as blessed us with an amazing opportunity! And you've blessed us by supporting us on this endeavor and in return we will be able to bless you with our experiences and stories once we've returned, make sure you take us up on that offer!
I am already so thankful for all of you who are supporting us prayerfully, financially and in so many other ways. Without all of you, none of us would be going on this adventure to fulfill God's work! Blessings on you!
Thanks, love and many blessings,
Deana Phillips <3
This is Deana posting from Echo Bay, ON. I'm going to share with you some pre-Kenya information, let you guys know what is going on right now, prayer requests and share some of my heart with you. The next time you will probably hear from me is in the beautiful land of hot(I'll soon find out how hot!) Kenya!
I am so excited to be able to share my time in Kenya with all of you - starting in only 2 short weeks! So much has been changing in these last crutial days and it's getting a lot of the team so excited but a little bit nervous at the same time! I don't think I'd be wrong in saying that we are being tested and taught to turn to Jesus for our strength! How exciting is that?
Like I said, a lot of changes have been made, but one that will effect us every day is we will no longer be staying in huts with the locals but rather staying in a hotel while we are there. This will help us better ensure the safety of our team members while we are on this adventure! It may sound like we are taking the easy road on this one, but I'm pretty sure that this will not be a five-star experience with satelite TV. I'll let you know if I'm wrong though!
I'm hoping that all of you who are reading this will join with us in prayer. We are all in need of it for different reasons but there is one universal problem: we miss calculated the costs by about $500...each. For the 15 people from Caronport, SK that adds up to a lot of money. We only have two short weeks to gather this money, but it gives us an opportunity to show how faithful God is!
To my team members reading this: we need to not be discouraged by this, but pray hard and keep preparing ourselves spiritually, emotionaly, and physically.
Some more prayer requests I hope you will keep in mind: for Anthony's visa to return in time (as an American he would need his before hand), no problems for the rest of the team (minus a few who purchased them before) who chose to purchise their visa at the airport, for us to learn as much Swahili to help communication with the locals, no stress only soaking in the Lord to prepare ourselves, that the hearts will be softened of the people we will come in contact with and for the money we need to come in! Let's rely on the Lord for answers to these important requests. I'm sure there are more that were not brought to my attention, God knows what they are so I pray he answers them too!
It's only 14 short days until we all join together in the Toronto airport! This is such a dream come true for me! Even through my fundraising, sharing with people and my preparing spiritually for this trip, it doesnt seem real! I am so excited to love on orphans, learn how to love more genuinely by being refined in this far away land, dig my heart out for the community (in well form of course!), and to see my favourite animal-a giraffe for the first time! Of course I'm excited for everything but these are a few that first come to mind! God as blessed us with an amazing opportunity! And you've blessed us by supporting us on this endeavor and in return we will be able to bless you with our experiences and stories once we've returned, make sure you take us up on that offer!
I am already so thankful for all of you who are supporting us prayerfully, financially and in so many other ways. Without all of you, none of us would be going on this adventure to fulfill God's work! Blessings on you!
Thanks, love and many blessings,
Deana Phillips <3
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